Most of the article actually seems to be the CSAC director having sour grapes.

From MMAFighting.com:

Quote:

Chael Sonnen, the UFC middleweight who has been serving a suspension from the California State Athletic Commission since his loss to Anderson Silva in August of 2010, is now free to apply for a license to fight in California or any other state.

"He can be removed from the suspension list and he is able to re-apply to any agency or any commission," George Dodd, the Commission's executive officer, told MMAFighting.com on Wednesday. "In California he would have to appear before the Commission before the Commission would license."

Although there were initial reports after Sonnen failed to get re-licensed by the California Commission last month that he would be ineligible to apply for a license again until May 2012, the Commission later released a statement saying those reports were based on a misunderstanding of the rule in question. In reality, Sonnen can re-apply now. Dodd said he doesn't know if Sonnen will re-apply in California, but California would have no objection to Sonnen applying for a license elsewhere.

"I don't know if Chael plans on reapplying." Dodd said, adding that if he applies elsewhere, "It would be up to that commission or licensing agency."

Sonnen was initially suspended for failing to properly disclose his use of testosterone-replacement therapy, and California declined to re-license him at last month's hearing. But Sonnen posted a message on Twitter early Wednesday morning indicating that he's ready to get back to fighting. Dodd said he doesn't know whether that's true or not as far as any state athletic commissions are concerned.

"He's back as far as he may be able to get licensed in other states," Dodd said. "Whether he's back is up to each individual organization to license him. I guess if he says he's back he's probably back into training, but I don't know if he's been licensed in any other state."

Sonnen indicated at his most recent hearing before the California Commission that he viewed a failure to get re-licensed as career-ending, but Dodd said that's not true.

"No, that's not the case," Dodd said. "I'm pretty sure he'll probably be able to get licensed in other states. That was his interpretation, I believe, of his contract with the UFC, and that was a big blow to him that he couldn't do that at that time. But to say that he's out of it, that was his interpretation, not ours."

Asked for any other thoughts about Sonnen, Dodd said that as far as he's concerned, Sonnen's appearance before the Commission at last month's hearing speaks for itself.

"It was put out there," Dodd said. "We held the meeting in the open, reporters will report what was said and there's nothing I can add."

PENICK: With Chael Sonnen's suspension up, UFC needs to hold him to same scrutiny on TRT as Nate Marquardt

Chael Sonnen's suspension by the California State Athletic Commission is up today, and with what happened this past week with Nate Marquardt and the blow up over his testosterone replacement therapy, there is a need for a thorough examination of Sonnen's purported need for the therapy himself before he steps back into the cage.

With the level of vitriol that UFC President Dana White threw at Nate Marquardt on Sunday night in an interview on Versus prior to that night's fight card in Pittsburgh, a standard has been set. If White is so "disgusted" with Nate Marquardt for using this TRT and failing to have his levels in the right spot come fight time, then Sonnen should get the same reaction if it turns out his need for TRT is fabricated, exaggerated, or has been taken advantage of for use above and beyond "normal levels."

When Sonnen was suspended by the CSAC for falsely claiming he had gotten TRT clearance from Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer in order to get an initial suspension reduced, White came to his defense.

The UFC was going to put Sonnen on The Ultimate Fighter, and White felt the commission was being overly harsh on Sonnen. On multiple occasions, White claimed that Sonnen had "paid his dues," and vehemently disagreed with him being suspended until today's date. All of that despite the fact that it still ended up being a shorter suspension than the year he was slapped with for testing positive for elevated levels following his UFC 117 loss to Anderson Silva.

There has been no guarantee that Sonnen will be automatically licensed by any commission after his ordeal in California. He's admission of TRT when he had not gotten a therapeutic use exemption in any state means that he'll need to go through that process in order to continue using his "medicine" while fighting.

With what came out with Marquardt this week, that may be a more difficult prospect than it was beforehand, and if Sonnen can't get approval for his testosterone use, as Marquardt failed to do in New Jersey and failed to cycle to in Pennsylvania, he deserves the same fate Marquardt has received.

The major difference in their situations is the fact that Marquardt cost the UFC money and ratings with his failures. Getting taken out of the event a day before had the UFC scrambling, forced them to put a new fight into the main event, and ultimately the show he was supposed to headline was beaten in the ratings by Spike TV as the UFC is in the middle of contract negotiations.

All of that makes White's disdain for what happened with Marquardt reasonable, but now he's set a precedent that will need to be followed or it will be seen as blatant hypocrisy.

A report from MMAJunkie.com states that the California State Athletic Commission is implementing a new process for the acceptance of TRT, and fighters will have to appear in front of the commission and their new medical advisory board to determine whether it's a legitimate medical need and whether they're keeping in line with regulations on the treatment.

With New Jersey having a stricter policy and denying Marquardt a TUE, and more states are likely to take a more serious look at their policies in regards to TRT moving forward.

The debate has been brought to light even further with Marquardt's situation. Because of that, Sonnen is going to have to prove his medical need beyond the really questionable testimony of his doctor in December, and he'll have to keep his testosterone levels within whatever levels the commissions require. If he fails to do that, and fails to get licensed, then White and the UFC have to let him go as well.

The reaction to Marquardt from the UFC wasn't unreasonable. White went a bit extreme with his level of "disgust," and I don't think Marquardt's admission brought the level of understanding on White's stance as he thought it would, but Marquardt screwed up massively and he knows he did. That is why he's partially accepted the release. But now that they've taken that stance on one fighter screwing up with TRT, it's a stance that needs to be followed through on with other fighters as well.

On multiple occasions, White claimed that Sonnen had "paid his dues," and vehemently disagreed with him being suspended until today's date. All of that despite the fact that it still ended up being a shorter suspension than the year he was slapped with for testing positive for elevated levels following his UFC 117 loss to Anderson Silva.

With what came out with Marquardt this week, that may be a more difficult prospect than it was beforehand, and if Sonnen can't get approval for his testosterone use, as Marquardt failed to do in New Jersey and failed to cycle to in Pennsylvania, he deserves the same fate Marquardt has received.

The major difference in their situations is the fact that Marquardt cost the UFC money and ratings with his failures. Getting taken out of the event a day before had the UFC scrambling, forced them to put a new fight into the main event, and ultimately the show he was supposed to headline was beaten in the ratings by Spike TV as the UFC is in the middle of contract negotiations.

All of that makes White's disdain for what happened with Marquardt reasonable, but now he's set a precedent that will need to be followed or it will be seen as blatant hypocrisy.

Chael has paid more money and has been punished equally as bad as Nate. So to say that he still needs to get fired is just stupid!

The Athletic commission basically fired Chael for over a year from the UFC so what else do you want?

He served his punishment and more. They declared him guilty he paid his dues and he should be able to fight now. Even if you don't like him.